Tallinn to turn muddy downtown square into vibrant floral meadow

In the heart of downtown, the City of Tallinn plans to transform the drab Theater Square into a riot of color with a rich floral urban meadow for pollinators.
Tucked between Estonia Theater, Solaris Shopping Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the square has long been a drab, mostly empty plot. Muddy most of the year, metal barriers also block access between the busy bus stops flanking it, making it a spot most avoid.
Now the city is filling it with native meadow plants, organized by color, to create a visually striking and ecologically beneficial space.
Red, yellow, blue and white zones will feature a mix of annual and perennial flowers, from spreading bellflowers, wild carrot and sticky catchfly to Estonia's iconic cornflowers and poppies.

City communications specialist Kadri Karnau said the urban meadow will offer more food and habitats for bumblebees, honeybees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths.
She noted that the color-coordinated patches will gradually blur as seeds naturally spread, forming new, multicolored plant communities.
"First-year blooms will be mostly annual summer flowers like cornflowers, long-headed poppies, common corn-cockles and forking larkspur," Karnau explained. "Starting in the second year, these will give way to perennials."
The project is one of several in the Estonian capital intended to boost greenery and biodiversity in the city's public spaces.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Aili Vahtla









